-
Business & Money In 1977 while filming Star Wars, George Lucas decided to take a $500,000 pay cut to his salary as director in exchange for full ownership of the franchise's merchandising rights. By 2012, the first six films produced approximately US$20 billion in merchandising revenue. December 2, 2020 -
Business & Money Record Labels hire experts to craft recording contracts in a way that prompt signing artists to give away their music ownership rights forever. It was also discovered that for every $1000 made after record sales, an artist who signed for a major label deal gained as small as $23.40. December 1, 2020 -
Business & Money In the 17th century, weavers in Nimes, France, accidentally made denim while trying to replicate the process of producing another popular fabric called serge. They called the new material "serge de Nimes" meaning literally "serge from Nimes." Over time, merchants shortened the name to "denim". November 28, 2020 -
-
Business & Money The company that produces the Jenga game initially wanted to change its name to "Timber!" or "Tumbling". This is because it didn't indicate how the game was played and people wouldn't know what it meant. The original creator refused because she thought the name would gain meaning later on. November 7, 2020 -
Business & Money The founder of Hyundai was born to an impoverished family of peasants in what is now North Korea. In 1998, he sent 1001 cows to his hometown in North Korea as a repayment 1000 times over for a cow that he stole in the early 1930s to afford his train ticket to Seoul and escape from poverty. October 25, 2020 -
-
Business & Money In 1992, a man named Stefan Mandel won a $27,036,142 jackpot, 6 second prizes, 132 third prizes, and 135 minor prizes in ONE lottery, by buying EVERY SINGLE COMBINATION possible - Over 5.5 million tickets. All 44 US states with lotteries have since changed their laws to prevent this. May 26, 2019 -
-
-
Business & Money IKEA is serving food because they realized that customers don't buy and don't stay for long when being hungry. Their policy is to be the absolute lowest price on food within a 30-mile radius, even if it means selling at a loss. So, they take a hit on the food, but they make it up in furniture March 28, 2019 -
-
